Lovin' From the Oven

Archives for May 2013

Chocolate Donuts

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Hi friends. Well, these past couple of days have been just about the worst luck of my life. I had this great vacation planned to Ireland and all things just went down the gutter. Here’s how this week started…

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My grandpa passed away on Sunday and I had to fly to Vegas to attend his funeral on Wednesday with two days notice. I had a trip to Dublin planned for my DB and I on Thursday for a week, but we were flying standby. We had called the airline the night before to check the flight loads and they told us that it was “good availability” and we shouldn’t have a problem getting on.

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We took the first flight from SFO-JFK on Thursday morning so that we could catch the redeye to Dublin at 9:15 PM the same night from JFK. When we got to the ticket counter, they informed us that the flight was completely sold out and there were 24 standbys on the list. For those unfamiliar with flying standby, it basically means that you wait to fill in any open seats there may be by seniority order. Well, guess what. My DB and I were basically on the bottom of that 24 standby list.

The weird thing was, when I tried to book seven tickets online just to see if it’d go through, I could. How would I be able to buy tickets for a sold out flight, you ask? That’s called over selling tickets, and this airline was all about over selling as much as they could.

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We decided to sit and wait around anyways, since we were already halfway there and had no where to go. They first told us to come back at 8PM and they would let us know if we’d get on the flight or not. We come at 8, and they tell us that we now had to wait until 8:30PM. The last flight back to SFO left at 8PM so if we didn’t get on it, we’d be stuck in New York.

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My DB and I kill about six hours at the airport, just waiting. Welllll guess what, they told us that they only had one seat for us and they gave it to the person behind us. Greatttttt.

I looked up hotels in New York and the cheapest one on Hotel Tonight was $299. So not only did we not make the flight to Dublin, I was now out all of the money spent on hotels, shuttles, and tours, and I’d have to sleep at the airport.

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We asked about flights for the next day and they told us both flights were oversold with plenty of standbys as well. At this point, we had spent six hours on an airplane and seven hours at the airport. We were not happy campers.

Thank goodness for one of my friends, Phuong, who let us crash at her place in NY so we didn’t have to sleep on the airport floor. We decided that it was best to abandon trying to get to Dublin for the week and work on getting our money back. We hopped back on the first flight to SFO the next morning.

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Now, here we are, back at home. Home has never felt so glorious. Lesson learned: Never travel internationally on standby. It’s just not worth it.
In hindsight, at least now we know better. Dublin will just have to wait for another time.
These donuts are soft, moist, and perfectly sweet. The recipe is from Mama’s Gotta Bake (adapted from King Arthur Flour). I made a simple glaze to top them with by mixing a bit of powdered sugar and milk together until the desired consistency. My personal favorite are the ones dipped in sugar. My DB gobbled these up in no time!

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Chocolate Donuts

Yield: 18 donuts

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup good quality cocoa powder
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons vinegar, white or cider
  • 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) melted butter or 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two standard donut pans or mini donut pans.
  2. Whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Set aside.
  3. In a large measuring cup or medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and vinegar. Add the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter or vegetable oil, to the dry ingredients, stirring to blend.
  4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s), filling them between 3/4 and full.
  5. Bake the doughnuts for 13-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the doughnuts form the oven, and after 30 seconds or so, loosen their edges, turn the pan upside down over a rack, and gently let the doughnuts fall onto the rack.
  6. For sugar-coated doughnuts, immediately shake the doughnuts in 1 tablespoon granulated sugar; add 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder to the sugar for an additional touch of chocolate.
  7. If you want to ice the doughnuts rather than shake them in sugar, allow them to cool completely before icing.
https://lovintheoven.com/chocolate-donuts/

Coconut Cheesecake Key Lime Cookie Cups

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Oh, Pillsbury. You continuously fill my kitchen with joy. I made my first cupcakes in elementary school using your cake mixes. Little did I know just how versatile your cake boxes really were.

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Then you come out and introduce such eye catching boxes. These orangesicle and key lime premium mixes scream out spring. How can you not want to grab an ice cold drink, a Pillsbury dessert, head out to the backyard and lay out by the pool when seeing this packaging?

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I actually carried these sweet treats with me all the way from San Francisco to Los Angeles and gave them out to curious people. If they asked what I was carrying, I’d offer one to them. By the time I came back to LA, I had already given half of the cookie cups away.

[I use this carrier for everything. I just remove the deviled egg containers and they’re the perfect size for packing, traveling, and easy accessibility.]

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There are a lot of courageous people out there who would take sweets from a stranger. Maybe a little Asian girl carrying around a stacked tupperware filled with dessert doesn’t seem like such a huge threat. Just maybe.

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Well, these cookie cups don’t exactly look very intimidating, either. They look just the opposite… extremely inviting. I don’t blame those strangers for accepting my treats.

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You can also use bigger muffin tins to make your treat if the petite ones don’t tickle your fancy. I used a muffin top pan to make these jumbo ones:

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But let’s be real here… the smaller the dessert, the cuter they are. It’s like having miniature cupcakes to celebrate for no reason. Who needs a reason to celebrate, anyways? Here are three ways to celebrate spring for no reason:

  1. Make these coconut cheesecake key lime cookie cups for your neighbors and invite them over for a pool party! What better way is there to spend your day?
  2. Spend some time outdoors. Whether it be sitting on your porch for five minutes after work to wind down or rock climbing in the mountains, celebrate the great spring weather!
  3. Don’t be afraid of color. It’s the time to wear that bright orange or neon pink scarf with your outfit. Lime green shoes? Perfect. This is the time of the year to wear your brightest clothing (and get away with it)!

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The cookie cups bake up rather quickly, so keep an eye on it since your oven might be faster than mine. There are little speckles of lime zest cooked throughout the batter, creating a wonderful surprise when being bitten into.

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The key lime flavor is the real winner here. It stands out among the cheesecake and coconut flavors. If you love key lime desserts, you’ll love this.

I used a Wilton tip #31 to frost these, in case you were curious. Can you tell it’s my first time using that tip?

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That’s not it, my friends. Pillsbury is giving away a Summer Seasonal Celebration Starter Kit to one lucky reader on my blog! The kit includes:

  • One box each Summer Seasonal Cake & Cookie Mixes
  • Frostings (1 each of Creamy Supreme Key Lime and Creamy Supreme Orangesicle)
  • $50 dollar Visa or American Express gift card

Total estimated giveaway value: $60

To enter, just leave a comment by midnight on May 8th letting me know how you’ll be celebrating spring!

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Coconut Cheesecake Key Lime Cookie Cups

Ingredients

  • 1 box Pillsbury Key Lime Premium Cookie Mix
  • 1 small box of cheesecake pudding (1 oz)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup shredded coconut, sweetened
  • 1 can of Pillsbury Key Lime frosting

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a mini muffin pan with oil. Set aside.
  2. Cream together the butter and eggs. Add in the cake mix and pudding until just combined. Stir in the shredded coconut.
  3. Put tablespoon sized balls into each muffin pan and press down.
  4. Bake for 9-10 minutes.
https://lovintheoven.com/coconut-cheesecake-key-lime-cookie-cups/

 

*This is a sponsored post by Pillsbury, but the opinions expressed are my own.*

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